Moby slowly opened his abnormally tired eyes and scratched them to remove the blurriness. Other than the day before when he woke up in the hospital, he had never felt in such a state after waking up ever since turning into a demon.

Before moving out of bed, he stared at the ceiling with his blank eyes. Then, he tightly grasped his palm into a fist and took a deep breath before jumping out of bed, using his air steps mere millimetres from hitting the ground just so he did not make any sound.

"Hmmm… 7 am huh…"

He mumbled to himself before looking at the bottom bunk only to find Ray still sleeping, the bunk above that also empty which he was not sure if he would ever get used to seeing…

Moby inwardly nodded to himself before going to the fridge to eat his morning breakfast, brush his teeth before going outside to complete his daily quest, doing it rather slowly as he felt the cold wind breeze slapping his face and the sun strongly hitting down on him. It was not that his body had yet to fully recover, in fact, it felt good as new; he simply used that time to himself— to ponder on some things and calm his mind from its current state.

After receiving his usual 3 stat points, he opened his stat page and immediately assigned them into mind, a stat he had been so dearly lacking…

If only he had higher mind, he would have been able to contact Ray who was back on earth about what was going on from the other planet but he was simply too far away… The mind stat seemed to serve more than he had first anticipated and it was about time that he stopped neglecting it, especially now when there was seemingly no immediate danger headed his way.

Moby then came back from his morning jog and workout, noticing Ray still asleep. So, he took his morning shower, choosing to take a cold one which felt rather calming and refreshing now that he had cold resistance.

"Hmmm… Ray… You're finally awake I see…"

He spoke as soon as he exited the shower, still slightly wet.

"M-Moby? You're back?"

He mumbled, still in bed, scratching his dead-looking eyes before standing up straight.

"Where's Alex? Is he with you too?"

That question caught Moby off guard.

"Hmm? Have you not been informed about what happened?"

A small smile appeared on Ray's face hearing those words, one that bore absolutely no joy.

"Oh no… I know very well what happened… Just that I thought since you were up, you would be able to cause some sort of miracle and bring him back but I guess I'm just asking too much…"

Moby sighed and nodded back to his words.

"Sorry, but not even I could do that,"

"Heh… Figured…"

He put his hands over one of his eyes, his smile growing slightly more before hints of water became visible in his eyes.

"You know… I'm just so useless… So useless… Other than my parents, you and Alex were all that I had in life and I just threw it away! I thought with these new powers I would be able to do something with myself but all I am is dead weight… You guys would have done—"

"Stop putting yourself down! Do you think that is what Alex would have wanted? So what if you weren't useful in the fight itself! If it weren't for you, Jayden would have not been able to spy on the Reids and we would have been even more fucked! All of us would have died! Not only Alex! Your powers are still young and developing so don't talk like that!"

The tears falling down Ray's face also increased more and more…

"Moby… Why didn't you turn me into a demon earlier then? Maybe then I would have been able to develop my skills earlier… Why didn't you save him? Aren't you supposed to be the future demon lord?"

Moby took a deep breath looking at Ray's desperate look knowing full well that he was not in the right state of mind when checking his emotions.

"I am not yet as powerful as you think. I can only turn a certain amount of people at a time and I didn't have the slots to turn you to. Plus, I had no idea how you would react… To put it bluntly, if you rejected the offer, I would either then have to force you into it and enslave you or kill you to keep my secret. How should I know you would be okay with it? The only reason I did it now was to save your life, and that was the same reason I did it for Alex too!"

Ray's eyes dilated hearing Moby's words, the tears falling down his face now even more than ever before.

"Just think of a better tomorrow! What happened was truly tragic but there is nothing that could be done now! If you stay in bed sulking for too long, that would only send you down an even deeper spiral of hate and despair! Then you would be as good as dead! and not even I would be able to bring you back! I've already seen it happen before… Do you want to die on the inside? If you give up now it would be as good as spitting on Alex's dead body! Is that what his sacrifice did? Cause nothing but pain and misery!?"

The waterworks running down Ray's face became fiercer the more and more Moby talked as he knew that he was speaking the truth… He could sense the pain in Moby's words but he seemed to be taking what was happening better than him. Not because he hated or didn't care about Alex, but because that was how much he respected him…

'If only I was that strong…'

He thought in his mind, looking at the serious face of his only friend and technically now his master.

"I bet you haven't eaten in days, starving yourself won't do you any good, even if we demons can survive really long with no food or water… I'll be heading out to do some training… If you need me just give me a call…"

Moby opened the door to the dorm room, the light from the outside shining in before he heard a single phrase enter his ears as soon as he stepped out…

"Thank you for that friend…"

So, he turned around and nodded at him with a bright, painfilled smile before walking out, leaving Ray all alone in the room to think over what had happened…

*Punch*

In a slight fit of rage, Ray punched the bunk above him, angry with no one but himself as he began to mellowly chuckle.

That was when a small piece of paper fell down from the shaking bed above and landed on the ground, which made him get out of bed for the first time in days to do anything but play videogames…

He picked up the folded paper, with a wide open gaze as he began reading, the waterworks in them reopening once more reading what he had in front of his eyes that bore a newly rekindled flame…

"A-Alex…"

**********************

Moby walked out of the dorm feeling slightly weird. He was calming Ray down and telling him things that not even he himself fully got over yet. He was fully used to always putting on an act but part of his speech almost felt like it was directed at himself.

'So, what's your next plan? You gonna go see Nags or Abby?'

'Abby; Nags can wait for now. I have a plan for something later on…'

Avilia seemed to not know what Moby was talking about since that plan was not shown in his outer thoughts as she watched him call Jayden on his watch only to see that communications in the Griffith mansion had been reinstated once more.

*******************************

Walking through the Griffith family hallways, windows to their left showing the shining sun and the wildlife of the garden walked two figures all alone, smiling mellowly.

"So, what did you get from your reward?"

Jayden asked with great anticipation.

"Oh! Just an Adamantite medal and an invitation to go personally meet the supreme general,"

Moby replied, technically not lying.

"Wow! That's amazing! The Adamantite medal is one of the highest honours that could be bestowed to a person! Few are above that! And a personal invitation to see the supreme general?! Congratulations! I'm so happy for you!"

"So, which one did you get?"

"Mine was only Orichalcum, which is 2 tiers below Adamantite!"

"Did Alex receive any award? I think they give one to the dead too right?"

"Yeah… Of course, he did… He received the third-highest honour possible, anything above that are just absolutely insane people who turned entire tides of wars… "The Prismatic Heart","

Suddenly, their conversation abruptly came to a halt as they reached the familiar crimson door that Moby had deeply etched into his brain.

"So… I wish you the best of luck with Abby… I don't really know what else to say…"

"It's okay, you don't need to say more…"

"Well, I'll be off to go start my training. My butler came back from vacation today so he'll also be joining in. Do you want to join us after you're done?"

"Yes! I'd be glad to,"

Moby's smile resonated with Jayden, which made her face turn brighter as they both lovingly kissed each other on the lip with passionate eyes, Jayden's arms wrapped around his neck before she left with a wave of her hands, leaving him all alone in front of the crimson door that brought him so much pain and anguish the last time he entered...